Bills player collapses from cardiac arrest

Tragedy struck the Buffalo Bills during a Monday NFL game against the Cincinnati Bengals, when Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsed just moments after getting up from an open field tackle.

The play involving 24year-old Hamlin happened early in the game regarded as an important matchup with both teams trying to stay in contention for top conference seeding in the NFL playoffs.

With the Bengals up 7-3, Higgins caught a short pass in Bengals territory and ran a few yards near midfield, where Hamlin met him.

Higginslowered his right shoulder and drove into the chest of Hamlin, whose arms were out wide anticipating a tackle. Hamlin, now falling back, wrapped his arms around Higgins’ shoulders and neck and twisted Higgins to the ground with him.

Hamlin stood up and appeared to adjust his face mask, then fell backward. An official whistled for the clock to stop with 5:58 left in the first quarter. , Footage shows that within 10 seconds of Hamlin’s collapse, Bills team trainers were treating him. An ambulance was on the field in less than five minutes, and he was given CPR on the field before being taken to the hospital. He was resuscitated a second time after arriving at the University of Cincinnati hospital. Now in intensive care, his condition remains critical from what is reported to be a cardiac arrest.

Players and fans were stunned, with many crying, praying and weeping as the player was taken off the field by ambulance to UC, when he was sedated and put on a ventilator to breath. Doctors say the next step is to get him breathing on his own. It is still unclear what lead to the cardiac arrest.

Cardiac arrest results from electrical disturbances that cause the heart to suddenly stop beating properly, and death can be quick if help isn’t rendered immediately. It is not the same as a heart attack or heart failure.

One of the treatment options is to sedate the patient and put the patient on a ventilator to decrease the demand for of the body for oxygenated blood and to place the patient in a prone position on their stomach to make breathing easier, there by improving circulation, but also decreasing demand.

Hamlin’s collapse left players distraught – in tears, kneeling with arms around one another before returning to their locker rooms. The game was suspended with nearly six minutes left in the first quarter and later was officially postponed – an unusual move for a league that often resumes play even after severe injuries. No decision has been made about whether it will ever be resumed, according to the NFL.

As for Hamlin, the Bills, including the team’s medical staff, are in a “waitand- see mode.”

Before joining the Bills, Hamlin played college football at the University of Pittsburgh and was selected by Buffalo in the sixth round of the 2021 NFL Draft.